John Kasich: Caring About Needy Doesn't Make Me a RINO

Ohio Gov. John Kasich says he isn't a Republican in Name Only, and that Republicans of faith should agree that helping the needy is a conservative thing because it's in the Bible.

Appearing Wednesday on Fox News Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto," Kasich said the Old and New Testaments command protection for widows, the poor and the beleaguered.

"We hear it in the Sermon on the Mount. To me that really is conservatism," he said. "Help somebody, but don't let them be stuck where they are. Give them an opportunity to rise beyond their condition."

He specifically pointed to society's promise to help the mentally ill, which he says has been broken as they are left to sleep in jail cells or under bridges.

"To me, it is conservative to say everyone is made in the image of God, and everyone deserves a chance. And sometimes, if they're not being helped any other way, then we've got to get the government to partner and to help those folks," Kasich said.

In 2013, he relayed a conversation he said he had with a state legislator who opposed the plan:

"I respect the fact that you believe in small government. I do too. I also happen to know that you’re a person of faith. Now, when you die and get to the, get to … the meeting with St. Peter, he’s probably not gonna ask you much about what you did about keeping government small, but he’s going to ask you what you did for the poor. Better have a good answer."

Kasich told Cavuto people should think with their heads and their hearts about social issues.

Kasich, who has made no mention of running for president in 2016, did agree with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and others — usually governors — who say a governor would make a better president than a senator or congressman.

Kasich has served as a senator and a governor and said the difference of experience is like "day and night."

"When you look at somebody who's going to be executive of a country that is at a critical point in our history, it's better to have somebody that had to make tough decisions, had to show that what their ideas are worked," he said.